Clothes-hanger supporting means



Oct. 27, 1970 H. KRAMER 3,536,286 7 CLOTHES-HANGER SUPPORTING MEANSFiled March 29, 1968 63 INVENTOR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,536,286CLOTHES-HANGER SUPPORTING MEANS Hyman Kramer, 2764 E. 16th St, Brooklyn,N.Y. 11235 Filed Mar. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 717,184 Int. Cl. A47g 29/00 US.Cl. 248-301 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A one-piece allsheet-metal hanger plate adapted to be mounted substantially flushagainst a vertical surface such as that of a clothes-closet doorcomprising a generally square (or rectangular) piece of sheet-metalhaving coplanar top and bottom horizontally extending edge portionsenabling such mounting and further having a plurality of upwardlyopening hooks struck out form the material thereof, said hooks beingdisposed at different levels of the plate, and the plate being so formedas to dispose each lower-level hook in a vertical plane different fromthat of the next higher-level hook.

This invention relates to clothes-hanger supporting means and moreparticularly to a clothes-hanger plate adapted to be securedsubstantially flat or fiush against a vertical surface such as the innerface of a clothes-closet door or the wall of a room or closet, forexample. The hanger plate of the invention derives its name from thefact that it has plate form rather than bar or rod form characterisingthe usual means for supporting clothes hangers in ready-for-use or inuse position.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision ofa novel yet practical and effective means for supporting a plurality ofarticles requiring suspension-type support such as clothes hangers; theprovision of a novel hanger plate for supporting clothes hangers inparticular, which is so constructed and arranged that it may be securedsubstantially flush against a vertical surface such as that of a clothescloset door or the wall of a room or clothes closet, for example; theprovision of a hanger plate which is capable of being inexpensivelymanufactured as being stamped complete or substantially complete from aplane sheet of suitable material such as sheet metal, or from a metalstrip of Width equaling that of one of the major dimensions of thehanger plate; and the provision of a hanger plate incorporating meansenabling it to be permanently secured flush against a vertical surfaceas aforesaid, or alternatively of being nonpermanently hung from a hookwhich itself is hookably attached to said door, or from a higher-levelhanger plate according to the invention which may be either pennanentlyor non-permanently attached to said door.

The above and other objects and features of advantage of a hanger plateas herein contemplated will be apparent from the following more detaileddescription thereof, taken with the accompanying illustrative drawing,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view and FIG. 2 an end view of a hanger plateaccording to the invention shown to be permanently secured to a verticalsurface such as that provided by the inside face of a closet door; and

FIG. 3 is a broken-away front-elevation, and FIG. 4 a broken-away sideelevation illustrating various modes of installing and/ or making use ofa hanger plate according to the invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the several views thereof illustratethat a hanger plate according to the invention (therein designated hasgeneral plate or sheet form as adapts it to be mounted flush orsubstantially flush against a plane vertical surface such as the innervertical face of a clothes-closet door, for example, and that when somounted it provides an effective means for hanging one or a limitednumber of articles requiring suspended support, such as clothes hangerswhich are usually hung from horizontal bars or rods located within aclothes closet proper, from a vertical face of the closet door. Moreparticularly, said hanger plate 10 comprises a piece of sheet metalillustratively having square configuration but which may of course haveother appropriate configuration such as rectangular, and whosedimensions are such as to provide for the accommodation within itsconfines or border a plurality of spaced-apart hooks from which one or anumber of clothes hangers may be hung, and which hooks are preferablyformed by struck-out areas of said plate.

As best seen in FIG. 1, the aforesaid hooks provided in the hanger plateare preferably arranged in horizontal pairs which are disposed atdifferent levels, with corresponding books of the pairs thereof havingvertical row arrangement. Thus, the hanger plate 10 is provided with anupper-level pair of hooks 14a, 14b, an intermediatelevel pair of hooks16a, 16b, and a lower-level pair of hooks 18a, 18b (a total of sixhooks), of which the corresponding hooks 14a, 16a, 18a and 14b, 16b and18b of the pairs thereof are arranged in vertical rows disposed adjacentthe side edges of the hanger plate.

Although a hanger plate 10 according to the invention is designed to beand preferably is fashioned from an initially fiat or plane piece ofsheet metal, the aforesaid desirable vertical-row disposition of thecorresponding hooks of the horizontal pairs thereof in a hanger platewhich in its final form is also flat or planar throughout may result inthe clothes hangers hung from two or all three of the hooks of avertical row so closely overlapping one another as to make objectionablethe use of said hanger plate as intended. To avoid any such objectionand at the same time to retain in the hanger plate 10 in its final formthe structure which enables it to be mounted flush against a plane(vertical) surface as intended, the hanger plate 10 in its final formincorporates means for disposing the hooks 16a, 16b of theintermediate-level pair thereof in a plane which is forwardly offsetfrom the common plane in which the hooks 14a, 14b of the upperlevel pairthereof and the hooks 18a, 18b of the lowerlevel pair thereof aredisposed. Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a clothes hanger hungfrom either of the hooks 16a, 16b of the intermediate-level pair thereofwill be disposed forwardly and well spaced from a clothes hanger hungfrom a higher or lower level row of the same vertical row thereof.

According to the invention, such means comprises a forwardly offset andpreferably convexly-curved formation in the nature of a bulge 20 (noteFIGS. 2 and 4 in particular) which extends transversely across theintermediate level portion of the plate 10, from a material of which theintermediate level pair of hooks 16a, 16b are struck. Thus, said pair ofhooks 16a, 16b are disposed in a plane which is different, i.e.forwardly, of the plane of the upper level pair of hooks 14a, 14b (whichlatter are struck from the material of, the top-edge zone portion of theplate 10), and similarly in a plane which is differ ent, i.e. forwardly,of the plane of the lowermost pair of hooks 18a, 18b, consequent to thelatter being struck from the material of the bottom-edge zone or portionof said plate 10. Thus, a hanger hung from either hook 16a, 16b of themiddle pair thereof will be disposed forwardly of a hanger hung fromeither of the hooks 14a, 14b of the upper pair, and similarly from ahanger hung from either of the hooks 18a, 18b of the lower pair.

A hanger plate for clothes hangers according to the invention is alsopreferably so constructed as to provide at least partial sheathing ofthe free ends of the hooks of the clothes hangers hung from the hooks ofthe upper and middle pairs 14a, 14b and 16a, 16b thereof. Moreparticularly and as best seen in FIG. 1, the outwardly bulged middlezone portion 20 of plate is cut away in its middle-length portion, thusto provide a generally rectangular window or cut-out designated 22, intowhich the free ends of the hooks of hangers hung from the hooks of theupper and middle pairs will extend, when such hangers are positioned andturned as generally indicated in FIG. 1.

To provide for permanent attachment of a hanger plate 10 as described toa closet door or other vertical surface, each hanger plate is preferablyprovided during the course of its manufacture with two spaced-apartround holes 24, 26 (FIG. 3) adapted for the reception of small woodscrews 24a, 26a serving to secure a plate flush against the doorsurface. Provision is also made for temporary attachment of said platesby a so-called hang-on method, such illustratively being in the form ofa slotlike opening 28 disposed midway between the ends and adjacent theupper edge of each plate, and with a pair of similarly shaped openings30, 32 disposed in the upper corner portions of the plate and invertical alignment with the two vertical rows of hooks 14a, 16a, 18a and14b, 16b, 18b, as aforesaid.

By reference to FIGS. 3 and 4, the centrally disposed opening 28 enablesa hanger plate 10 according to the invention to be hung from a generallydesignated hook 40 provided therefor on the door surface. Preferably,such a hook 40 is of the type disclosed and claimed in my copendingapplication entitled Sheet-Metal Hooks, Ser. No. 717,183 filed undereven date, and which by reference to FIG. 4 is adapted to be secured inplace on the door by being hung over its top edge. For this purpose,

said hook 40 is provided with an upwardly facing hook 1 42a formed onits forward leg 42, and with a rearwardly offset, downwardly openinghook 48a provided by its body portion 44 which extends over the door topedge, acting in concert with said forward leg 42 and a companiondownwardly extending leg 46, which together define a downwardly openingchannel-form hook of width substantially equal to the thickness of thedoor.

FIGS. 3 and 4 further illustrate the feasibility of hanging a pluralityof hanger plates according to the invention in a vertical series, byhooking each lower hanger plate to each next higher hanger plate. Sucharrangement is made possible by the fact that each lower plate of avertical series of hanger plates can be hooked to a next higher hangerplate by passing the lower pair of hooks 18a, 18b of said next higherhanger plate through the corner openings 30, 32 of each lower hangerplate. For such vertical series arrangement of plates, the top hangerplate can either be permanently attached to the door as shown in FIG. 1,or it can be hung from the hook 40 which is hooked over the top edge ofsaid door, as in FIG. 3.

Without further analysis, it will be appreciated that a hanger plate forclothes hangers and like articles as herein disclosed satisfies the needfor an elfective means for hanging clothes hangers which are usuallyhung from hanger bars or rods extending across or along a closet spacefrom any available vertical surface such as that provided by a door or awall surface, thus supplementing if not doing away entirely with suchhanger bars or rods and also with hanger posts which are permanentlyfastened to a closet or wall door to extend horizontally forwardlytherefrom. It will further be appreciated that the hanger plate of theinvention may be inexpensively produced by stamping same complete orsubstantially complete from readily available sheet material such assheet metal. As pointed out'above, a hanger plate of the invention maymoreover be permanently or temporarily installed for use as needed, andmay also be carried about as a portable unit by the traveler, togetherwith the hook 40 by which it may be hung from the top edge of a closetdoor, for quick installation in rooms or closets where the conventionalhanger rods or bars are missing or inadequate.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructionswithout departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended thatall matter contained in the above description or shown in theaccompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

I claim:

1. A one-piece, all sheet-metal hanger plate adapted to be mountedsubstantially flush against a vertical surface such as that of aclothes-closet door comprising a generally square piece of sheet-metalhaving coplanar top and bottom horizontally extending edge portionsenabling such mounting and further having a plurality of upwardlyopening hooks struck out from the material thereof, said hooks beingdisposed at upper, intermediate and lower levels of the plate and invertical row formation and the plate incorporating means elfective todispose each lowerlevel hook in a vertical plane different from that ofthe next higher-level hook, said means comprising a forwardly extendingoffset provided in said intermediate portion of the plate and from thematerial of which the intermediatelevel hook is struck, as aforesaid.

2. A hanger plate according to claim 1, wherein said forwardly extendingoffset is provided with a cutout in its middle-length portion forreceiving and partially sheathing the free end of a clothes-hanger hookhung from one of the upperand intermediate-level hanger plate hooks.

3. A hanger plate according to claim 1 wherein at least one of said topand bottom coplanar edge portions of said plate is provided withpreformed openings for the reception of various means for mounting sameflush against a vertical mounting surface.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 843,633 2/ 1907 Schoonmaker.1,294,916 2/1919 Knight 248215 X 1,760,290 5/ 1930 Tammarazzo 21l-872,288,706 7/ 1942 Herr 21187 X 2,634,865 4/1953 Geheb 211-87 X 2,941,6726/1960 Lathrop 211-87 FOREIGN PATENTS 286,455 3/ 1928 Great Britain.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner J. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl.X.R. 2l1-87; 248339

